The present invention relates to a process for the continuous purifying distillation of crude sec-butyl alcohol, obtained by catalytic hydration of n-butenes at elevated temperature and elevated pressure and by separation of unreacted olefin from the reaction product by feeding the crude alcohol to the upper part of a separation column, supplying the energy required for evaporation in a reboiler at the bottom of the separation column, distilling off overhead the azeotropically and low-boiling by-products in the presence of water and withdrawing the prepurified secbutyl alcohol at the bottom of the separation column and subsequently separating the high-boiling by-products.